He smiled and joined in on the group hug.

Shane gave Carmen a kiss while Shay faked gagging noises, and then handed her girlfriend the flowers.

Shay was quick to jump in, “They’re from Shane and me.”

Shane looked at him in surprise. “Who is this little punk?”

Carmen laughed and asked them both, “What’s the occasion?”

Again Shay beat his sister to the punch, “Because you are pretty and we love you.”

Carmen looked from Shay to Shane, who replied, “What the punk said–because we love you.”

Carmen gave them both big kisses and said thank you.

“Well I’d love to stay here and celebrate but you guys know we have dinner at my mom’s tonight so let’s get ready. Shay, you ready to meet my mom? She is going to smother you in kisses and make you eat until you want to throw up.”

“She’s not joking,” Shane added.

“I think I’m ready. I skipped my after-school snack to make sure I’m extra hungry.”

Carmen laughed and they all headed out to the jeep. When Shane was locking the door behind them, Shay grabbed her hand and looked up at her with those big, searching green eyes.

“Shane?”

“Yeah bud?”

“Is Carmen’s mom like my grandma?”

Shane stopped dead in her tracks. What should she say? Say yes and get his hopes up only to have them be crushed later, or say no and have him be crushed now? Shane ended up not having to decide though because Carmen fielded the question for her.

“My mom is your abuela—no matter if you live with us for three months or the rest of your life—family is more than who is genetically related to you, okay?”

Shay nodded; Shane felt like Carmen was speaking to her just as much as she was to Shay. She looked at the Latina sitting next to her in the car, gave her a smile, and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her.

When the pulled up to the Morales home, Shay got shy and hid behind Carmen. Mercedes opened the door before they even got there and started speaking rapidly in Spanish about how excited she was to be a grandma again and how handsome he was. Carmen pulled the boy in front of her as Shay began to get smothered in hugs and kisses.